Astorino Reaffirms Plans To Seek Final, 3rd Term As Westchester County Exec

Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino prepares for an impromptu news conference at his White Plains office on Tuesday. He said he fully intends to run for a third four-year term this year.
Photo Credit: Jon Craig

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WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- While no formal announcement has been made, Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino continues to make it clear he is running for a third term in 2017.

Astorino said he wants a third term as county exec — even though some didn’t believe he’d go through with running this year. The job pays $160,760-annually for a four-year term.

It would also be Astorino's final term as the county's chief executive. That's because the Westchester County Board of Legislators created a limit after three terms during Astorino's first term. That means, assuming he is re-elected, Astorino's final year in office would be 2021. (That assumes Astorino does not run again for governor, and win, in 2018.)

“I’ve said it I-don’t-know-how-many times: I’m running,” Astorino told
The Journal News/LoHud.com in this video interview
. “We’re already putting together a campaign team. I don’t think there’ll be a formal announcement for months, and not until the spring, but that’ll take place in due course.”

Astorino, a 49-year-old Republican easily won two terms in a county where there are more than twice as man registered Democratic voters than Republicans. His first seven county budgets passed without raising the property tax rate.

The resident of Hawthorne challenged Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2014, but lost. He has said he remains interested in challenging Cuomo again next year.

Astorino has nearly $2 million in his campaign account. Aides said Democrats among those mentioned as challengers include County Legislator Ken Jenkins of Yonkers and Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano.